Starting a new church or even a new worshiping community in an already existing church is a challenge. There is the challenge of the unknown. What should we expect? What will it be like? The challenge of fear. What if we can't make it? How long will we last? What if no one comes? There is also the challenge of societies view towards religion, particularly Christianity (of which, some of the criticism is deserved). It is daunting, challenging and overwhelming.
Yet, here we stand one year into our Crossroads ministry. The worshiping community is powerful. It is exciting. It is dynamic. It is deeply spiritual. It connects our life to the ever flowing life-giving baptismal waters that God touches us with. Each week, we are strengthened by God's grace through Holy Communion. Each week, our community reaches out to those who have gathered and say, "you are loved."
There is much to celebrate since we started one year ago. But like our spiritual journey, we are not where we want to be. We should be engaged in further mission to the community and larger city. We desire to go deeper in our Bible Study. We are challenged to think critically about our faith and the role of the church (in a society that increasingly has no use for it). So, we celebrate for a day the past year while we pray and sing about the future.
I hope you will join us for Crossroads this week. We will continue our Lenten journey, we will celebrate, we will worhsip, we will be in community, and we will hope.
See you at 5 PM this Saturday.
Jimmy
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